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BRUSSELS, 14 Feb. () –
The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, insisted on Tuesday that the priority right now for the allies that support Ukraine militarily is to send the tanks and ammunition committed, noting that at this moment the fighters are not an “issue urgent”.
Before the meeting at the NATO headquarters of the Ramstein group, the military coalition of more than 40 countries supporting Ukraine under the leadership of the United States, in which the countries are expected to finalize the supply of tanks to Kiev, Stoltenberg has stressed that the priority is to deliver the equipment committed by the allies such as armored vehicles and tanks, insisting that the need to provide the Ukrainian Army with ammunition and training in the new systems is also on the allies’ table.
Together with the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Oleksi Reznikov, the allies will discuss the promised deployment of tanks at the end of January, a coalition of which Spain is a part, although its contribution remains pending confirmation while Defense carries out technical reviews of half a dozen tanks.
More skeptical has been the possibility of handing over fighter jets to the Ukrainian army, the main demand made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his European tour last week in London, Paris and Brussels. “The issue of combat aircraft is not the most urgent issue, but it is an ongoing discussion and we have consultations between allies about the type of systems that must be provided to Ukraine,” he said when asked about this issue.
Stoltenberg has not closed the door on this option, indicating that there are consultations about the possible supply of this type of heavy weapons and that the military aid of the allies to Ukraine “has evolved and will continue to do so as the war progresses.”
“It is important to discuss systems, but it is important to ensure that the systems sent work, that they have the components they need, logistics and ammunition,” the former Norwegian prime minister explained.
